EV vs. Gas Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in 2026: Is the Electric Premium Finally Dead?
By David Moreira ·
Updated
An EV can cost less to run while still costing more over the chosen ownership period. Compare depreciation, insurance, maintenance and energy together. This worked example uses Autozis’s hypothetical default sedan profiles for a US scenario in US dollars, not dealer quotes or a current national price survey.
Reproduce the five-year example
Open the EV vs Gas TCO Calculator with these inputs: 12,000 miles/year, five years; gas purchase price $30,000 and 32 MPG; EV purchase price $43,000 and 0.30 kWh/mile; gas $3.80/gallon; home electricity $0.17/kWh and public electricity $0.42/kWh; 75% home charging; 10% charging-loss allowance; gas insurance $1,650/year with an 18% EV surcharge. Federal and state incentives are both zero. The time estimate remains separate from monetary totals.
Annual gas energy is 12,000 ÷ 32 × $3.80 = $1,425. EV electricity is 12,000 × 0.30 × 1.10 × (0.75 × $0.17 + 0.25 × $0.42) = $920.70. Annual maintenance assumptions are $0.11/mile for gas and $0.06/mile for EV: $1,320 and $720. Insurance is $1,650 and $1,947 respectively.
The calculator depreciates the remaining vehicle value each year: gas rates 25%, 15%, 10%, 8%, 5%; EV rates 30%, 20%, 12%, 10%, 10%. Those are model assumptions rather than resale forecasts. Value floors are 12% of original gas price and 10% of original EV price.
Adding five years of operating costs and modeled depreciation gives gas $36,931.28 and EV $43,774.28. EV cost is $6,843.00 higher in this example. Purchase price influences depreciation; it is not added again on top of depreciation. Financing, sales tax, charger installation and unexpected repairs are outside this model.
Sources and incentives
The Department of Energy describes the maintenance differences between powertrains. Its guidance supports the direction of the comparison, not our exact cents-per-mile assumptions. Get insurance quotes and use your own energy tariffs before making a purchase decision.
The IRS New Clean Vehicle Credit guidance says acquisitions after 30 September 2025 do not qualify. A qualifying acquisition by that date can be placed in service later under the documented conditions. Start at zero and enter a verified federal amount, up to $7,500, only when eligible; enter state incentives separately. Verified overrides are applied once in year one.
Explore vehicle-specific estimates in the EV charging directory, and compare this projection with actual spending in the car cost tracker.